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Lower the Deficit sell us the M14!

I encourage everyone to sign the petition, lower the national debt and put the greatest battle rifle ever devised ( No the AR15 is not a bad platform but its no rifle.) into your safe.

To: U.S. Senators & Congress

There is a strong demand for a M14 DCM program, which will curb Government waste by providing up to $300-600 Million DEFICIT REDUCTION. With uncertainty of the price tag of the current war, this will help pay for freedoms we enjoy in this country.

This petition is to show Congressional Representatives that Law abiding Americans want such a program in support of Deficit Reduction, Military Historical Preservation, and 2nd Amendment Rights. We want them to be "PRO-ACTIVE" in Congress and help us get an M14 DCM program; the current M1 program has been a success for many years through Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP).

With the looming war deficit, our government should not throw away hundreds of millions of dollars by destroying M14 rifles - some of which are brand new!? Quit wasting taxpayer money and allow the sale of DoD semi-auto M14s, M1 carbines, etc. to the law-abiding, taxpaying voters.

If you are Proud of American Freedoms, Concerned of War Costs, and an Avid Firearm Enthusiast I URGE you to SIGN.

Below is a great article on this from February 17, 1981 by Michael V. Stratton- “ A Simple Means to Reduce Government Waste”.

The U.S. Rifle, 7.62?mm, M14, was the first rifle the U. S. fielded that improved upon the highly regarded U. S. Rifle, Caliber.30, M1 (Garand) and attempted to give U. S. Forces a NATO standardized weapon. The M14 came into active service around 1957 and remained the standard infantry weapon until the official adoption of the M16 rifle in the late 1960s.

Like its predecessor, the M14 is now relegated to ship's arms rooms ROTC detachments, storage bins in government arsenals, and, of late, the demilitarized scrap pile.

In 1979 such a furor was raised in Congress by concerned shooters and taxpayers that the Department of the Army was stopped in its tracks when it tried to demilitarize serviceable U. S. M1 rifles and carbines at a cost to taxpayers of approximately $500,000.

During the past year, newspapers catering to shooters, such as Shotgun News, have been carrying advertisements for front and rear halves of demilitarized M14 rifle receivers. These rifles were demilitarized by cutting them into three or more pieces with a cutting torch. The civilian contractors who perform this “service" bid for the privilege of torch cutting these weapons and hauling off the scrap metal. Unfortunately, the contractor doesn't pay the bid price to the government; the government pays the contractor to do this. (Approximately 300,000 M14 rifles would be demilitarized for $500,000).

Civilians are not permitted to own issue M14 rifles; they have not been offered for sale by the government. They are classified as machine guns and, as such, fall under the provisions of the National Firearms Act.

Private firearms manufacturers have been Building copies of M14 receivers, exact in every detail except that they cannot be readily converted to fire in the fully automatic mode. In effect, these receivers are the equivalent to M1 rifle receivers, which also cannot be readily converted to fire fully automatically. These manufacturers have been assembling their receivers into fully functional rifles using surplus M14 rifle parts sold by the government.

M1 rifles are currently being sold to qualified purchasers through the Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) at the rate of about 1200 per year. They are being sold for a little more than $100 per rifle while the going price in the civilian collector's market for a standard grade M1 service rifle is upwards of $500.

While we are not normally concerned with the acquisition of service firearms by private individuals, this article offers a means for a practical economy by the Government.

Firing Mechanisms
The words "Sincerely, The Undersigned" will automaticallybe added at the end of youThe difference between the M1 rifle and the M14 rifle receiver is the integral sear release-attaching lug located on the right rear of the M14 receiver below and behind the rear sight (Figures 1 and 2). Without this lug the M14 rifle would be just another semi?automatic shoulder rifle similar to the M1 and legal to own. In five easy steps, requiring approximately 14 minutes, a surplus M14 rifle, destined for the scrap heap at a cost to U. S. taxpayers, could be made into a semiautomatic rifle and made available for purchase by qualified buyers through the DCM as M1 rifles are now offered.

Mechanism Conversion
Five steps of conversion are:
1. Field strip the rifle into its component parts as shown in Figure 1. Discard part numbered 5A. (Time required: 1 minute.)
2. Remove and discard parts as numbered 6, 7 (or 8, whichever is installed), 9, 10, and 11 (Figure 2). (Time required: 1 minute.
3. Grind off and discard the lug (Figure 2) flush with the bottom of the receiver. Deburr the receiver. (Time required: 5 minutes.)
4. Cold blue the ground?down area on the receiver to protect from rust. (Time required: 5 minutes.)
5. Reassemble the rifle and functionally test it. (Time required: 2 minutes.)
Total conversion time required is 14 minutes with no cost to the government beyond the labor costs of government workers.

Coordination of Conversion
Before the conversion of M14 rifles could commence, various Government agencies would have to be involved. The Department of the Army will have to halt the current M14 demilitarization program, authorize conversion of surplus M14's from selective fire to semi?automatic fire capability only, and then authorize the sale of the rifles through the DCM. The U.S. Army Armament Command will be required to identify surplus rifles and then carry out the conversion. The Secretary of the Treasury, through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, must rule that the DCM sale of converted M14 rifles doesn't violate current federal firearms laws and verify that the conversion will result in the rendering of the M14s as semiautomatic rifles only.

Practical Savings
What then is the bottom line on all this? The answer is: money. The U. S. Treasury could be fattened considerably by the sale of these rifles in two ways. First, a contract to demilitarize the rifles would not have to be let thereby saving approximately $500,000 per contract. Second, assuming the Secretary of the Army authorizes the sale of M14's in the same quantity as M1 rifles, about 1200 per year, and a price is established that is commensurate with their collector's value (the Carson City Silver Dollar Sale is recent precedent), the government can expect $400 to $650 per weapon.
The M1 rifle sale held yearly has never failed to attract thousands more buyers than there are available weapons. Since the M14 is a prized collector's weapon, I would expect nothing less to happen during an M14 sale.

The author is a major in the U. S. Army. He is an aeronautical engineer and is currently enrolled in the U. S. Navy Test Pilot School. He is also a specialist in the research and development field. He saw combat in Vietnam as an airborne infantryman and as an aviator.

Re: Lower the Deficit sell us the M14!

Why don't they store a huge number of these weapons in case they're needed one day? Didn't the Russians store around 15 Million AK-47's (and other) assault weapons for a major future war? Instead of having to build new ones...

Oh, then sell the left overs of course. I can't even find a M1 Garand for anything less then 1,400 dollars.. /sigh

Re: Lower the Deficit sell us the M14!

would love to see it happen but there is no way in hell its going to happen with this administration. Like they are going to give high powered assault rifles out to people... haha yeah right.

The first vehicles normally on the scene of a crime are ambulances and police cruisers. If you are armed you have a chance to decide who gets transported in which vehicle, if you are not armed then that decision is made for you.

Be prepared, because someone else already is and no one knows their intent except them.